Survey Research on e-Learningin Asian Countries – Fiscal Year 2002
(Overview)i- Table of Contents (Survey Research on e-Learning in Asian Countries)(Overview)
1． Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Purpose....................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Basic Concepts on Selecting Samples and Methods to Conduct Surveys .................. 1
1.3 Details and Processes of the Survey........................................................................... 3
1.4 Configuration of "Survey Research on e-Learning in Asian Countries" ....................... 5
1.5 [Notes] About "AEN Conference 2002" ....................................................................... 5
2． Market: Market Trends of e-Learning.............................................................................. 7
2.1 Status of IT Promotion (Centered on the Internet)....................................................... 7
2.2 Status of Education and Training System.................................................................... 9
2.3 IT Human Resources Required ................................................................................. 10
2.4 E-Learning Market Trends......................................................................................... 10
3． Technology: Trends of e-Learning System (Synchronous & Asynchronous) ................ 13
3.1 Singapore.................................................................................................................. 14
3.2 Republic of Korea...................................................................................................... 14
3.3 China......................................................................................................................... 15
3.4 Malaysia .................................................................................................................... 16
3.5 Thailand .................................................................................................................... 16
3.6 Philippines................................................................................................................. 17
3.7 Indonesia................................................................................................................... 18
3.8 Vietnam ..................................................................................................................... 19
3.9 Myanmar ................................................................................................................... 19
3.10 Laos ........................................................................................................................ 20
3.11 Cambodia ................................................................................................................ 20
3.12 Brunei...................................................................................................................... 20
4． Advanced Activities in ASEAN ...................................................................................... 21
5． Government Policy and Vision (Mid- and Long-term Direction) .................................... 22
5.1 Status of IT Policies................................................................................................... 22
5.2 E-Learning Related Measures as Part of IT or Educational Policies ......................... 24
5.3 Laws Regulating Rights for Intellectual Property and Personal Informationin e-Learning.............................................................................................................. 26
5.4 Vision ........................................................................................................................ 26
5.5 International and National Conferences .................................................................... 26ii

6． International Activities: International Efforts and Promotion Activities within ASEAN,
such as e-ASEAN.......................................................................................................... 28
6.1 Overview ................................................................................................................... 28
6.2 Major cases............................................................................................................... 28
6.3 Future Prospects ....................................................................................................... 29
7． Direction of Pilot Experiments....................................................................................... 31
7.1 Background of Experimental Projects ....................................................................... 31
7.2 Summary of Experimental Projects ........................................................................... 33
7.3 Future Perspective .................................................................................................... 34iii

1．Introduction
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of this survey research is to study the trends of e-Learning in the Asian
region by focusing on activities in major Southeast Asian countries, thus contributing toestablishing a cooperative relationship between Japan and other Asian countries. It is alsomeant to provide information for considering AEN's future activities.

1.2 Basic Concepts on Selecting Samples and Methods to Conduct Surveys
Table 1-1 Surveyed countries and survey methods

This survey covers a wide range of 12 different countries as targets, including Indochina
countries whose information is often difficult to collect, China and the Republic of Korea, as
well as major Southeast Asian countries.
These countries vary greatly in levels of economic development, IT policies, education
policies, and cultures. Since "e-Learning" is itself a new concept in Asia, and is fully
understood or actually utilized in only a limited number of countries, this survey was
conducted as part of a basic survey over a wide geographical area to contribute to "thepromotion of Asia e-Learning Network project".

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Opportunities for interview surveys were limited, and some countries had to beresearched mainly by consulting documents and using the Internet. Before starting the
research, therefore, countries were classified by survey method (main information sources
and approach to be taken) as follows:
In the "Survey method" column, each classified topic means the following:• A-1) Interview: Target countries are visited to research trends of major organizations.
(three countries in total)• A-2) Participation in conference: Information is collected by attending e-Learning
conferences held in the target countries. (two countries in total)• B) Based on reference document: Information is collected from materials obtained at"AEN Conference 2002" (described later) or from e-Learning related organizations in
the target countries. (two countries in total)• C) Based only on Country Report: Only Country Reports consisting of a few pages areused, which are obtained at "AEN Conference 2002" and published by each country.
(five countries in total)
Collecting and analyzing the Country Reports proved, however, that only a few of them
contained sufficient information. So, thorough research was additionally conducted byconsulting reference documents and using the Internet.
For each survey topic in the "Survey contents" column, estimated availability of
information to be collected is classified as follows, before conducting surveys:(a): Certain amount of information is expected to be collected.
(b): Sufficient amount of appropriate information may not be available.
[Empty]: Appropriate information may not be collected, or the amount of information is
unknown.
The difference between B and C is: for C, only Country Reports were put together, while
for B, a survey was conducted using reference documents based on the information
obtained in Country Reports, in order to achieve a preliminary survey level to be ready for
future in-person surveys.
In rows labeled B, each number in the Survey contents & topics columns means as follows:
1) Detailed survey is not necessary.
2) Surveys can be conducted without interviews.
3) Certain interview surveys have already been conducted.
Since e-Learning is a new IT field, organizations to gather and manage domestic
information related to e-Learning have not yet been established in most of the surveyedcountries, or have just started activities in a few countries. Consequently, in-person
interviews and inquiries by e-mail were made to experts from governmental offices anduniversities. Additionally, information obtained over the Internet and reference documents
were also consulted.
The "x" in "2002 Experimental Projects" column indicates that Asia e-Learning Network(AEN) Experimental Projects were conducted with that country in 2002.

2

1.3 Details and Processes of the Survey
Details and processes of this survey are as follows:(1) Market: Market trends of e-Learning
Information on e-Learning related market trends is collected and analyzed, focusing
on movements of the market and major players within the surveyed countries.
[Major topics]- Status of IT promotion* Due to the fact that IT promotion itself being extensive, the status of the Internet
which is closely related to e-Learning is addressed.
- Status of education and training system* Higher education and vocational education are addressed, which is the target of the
Asia e-Learning Network (AEN) project.
- IT human resources required* Surveys of needs for IT human resources have not been conducted in all countries.
For countries from which no survey results are available, the tendency of its needs areshown instead.
- Trends of e-Learning market (if the market has already been established)* Because few countries have developed e-Learning to a specific "industry" or"market", trends of major organizations and market forecasts (if any) were studied.
(2) Technology: Trends of e-Learning system (synchronous & asynchronous)
Main actual examples of e-Learning implementations are discussed, to analyze
synchronous and asynchronous type technologies, and also to analyze trends ofproducts that are utilized within those examples.
[Major topics]- Synchronous type technology and its usage- Asynchronous type technology and its usage* Initially, classification was attempted by synchronous and asynchronous type oftechnologies, but as the survey proceeded, this classification was found difficult because
both technologies are used in typical e-Learning examples of major countries. As aresult, the classification, being centered on major examples of organizations or projects,
has been broken down into "overview" and "e-Learning related activities". Technologies
used, synchronous and/or asynchronous, are described and classified in a list.
(3) Advanced activities in ASEAN
Within the ASEAN countries, such countries as Singapore have already started
advanced activities in the field of collaborative learning and quality standards. Trends ofthose activities are studied in this topic.
* Although "In ASEAN" is assumed, a supplementary survey was also conducted for
China and the Republic of Korea.
[Major topics]- Next Generation Learning Infrastructure, such as collaborative learning (specificallyin Singapore)- Quality standard: Quality standards of contents and services* As for the above two topics, the number of countries and applications surveyed werelimited, since e-Learning is a technology still under development in Asia.

3(4) Government policy and vision (mid- and long-term direction)
In relation to IT policies and educational policies of surveyed countries, how
e-Learning is understood and positioned is addressed and analyzed.
[Major topics]- Status of IT policies* Those that are especially important among IT policies are discussed.
- e-Learning related measures as part of IT or educational policies* With respect to the fields of IT and educational policies, those specifically related to
e-Learning measures are discussed. Standardization policies as well as activities oforganizations related to e-Learning are also included in this topic. As this topic
addresses IT human resource education described in section "2.3", its contents may
partly overlap depending on specific countries.
- Laws regulating rights for intellectual property and personal information in e-Learning* Although no legal regulations on e-Learning have been enforced, not only in Asia but
also all over the world, any information about laws concerning rights for intellectual
property and personal information is introduced if it is found.
- Vision (mid-and-long term direction)* Although it is difficult to distinguish from IT and education policies, "directions andgoals in mid-and-long term" is specifically discussed in this topic, which has beenannounced regarding e-Learning in view of the long-term perspective.
- International and national conferences (an additional topic)* International and national conferences which are specifically thought to deserve
mentioning are selected from those held in each country, and are directly associatedwith AEN projects or hosted by AEN related organizations.
(5) International activities: International efforts and promotion activities within ASEAN,
such as e-ASEAN
E-Learning related activities by surveyed countries which are meant to be expanded
externally, and activities by international organizations or aid agencies are studied under
this topic. E-Learning projects collaborated with Japan (if any) are included in particular.
[Major topics]- E-Learning related activities in e-ASEAN and others- Efforts by international organizations, such as ASEAN Secretariat (including legal
guidelines concerning rights for intellectual property and personal information, forexample e-ASEAN Framework)* Extensive research was conducted on international organizations, aid agencies, anduniversity associations, which are expected to internationally perform e-Learning related
activities in Asia, because e-Learning related activities within e-ASEAN are very limited.
(6) Direction of pilot experiments
Based on results from the above-mentioned topics, details of pilot experiments thatare deemed necessary in Japan and other Asian countries are discussed.
Furthermore, an overview is shown for concurrently conducted AEN experimental
projects, and how to expand and coordinate them is discussed.
* On the basis of results from the above-mentioned topics and overview of pilot
experiments, any desirable activities that can be promoted jointly by Japan and Asia are
discussed.

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1.4 Configuration of "Survey Research on e-Learning in Asian Countries"
This survey consists of six topics, as explained so far.
Topics 1 - 4 address each nation's circumstance, topic 5 the activities of entities such as
international organizations, and topic 6 the pilot experiment surveys.
This "Overview" section is configured to allow the entire view to be seen, because thedetails that can be discussed vary widely for each nation and each topic, and are notappropriate to be used for comparison. More specifically, topics 1 - 4 summarize thedescription in the "Country-specific Reports" section. For more details, please refer totopics 1 - 4 in the “Country-specific Reports” section.
Surveyed countries appear in the following order.
In this report, not the alphabetical order of country names, but the following order isapplied, in consideration of whether "abundance of information" or "large number of joint
activities with Japanese organizations in e-Learning (namely, high possibility of continuous
cooperation)" exists:(1) Singapore(2) Republic of Korea(3) China(4) Malaysia(5) Thailand(6) Philippines(7) Indonesia(8) Vietnam(9) Myanmar(10) Laos(11) Cambodia(12) Brunei

1.5 [Notes] About "AEN Conference 2002"
The following conference was held as part of Asia e-Learning Network (AEN) activities.
Information collected in the conference has been consulted in this survey.
For more information on the conference, refer to the "International Conference" sectionof this report.
1. Conference held
(1) Overview of conference- Name: Asia e-Learning Network Conference 2002
[Abbreviation: AEN Conference 2002]- Hosted by: AEN Promotion Committee, JAPAN- Sponsored by: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI, Japan), Advanced
Learning Infrastructure Consortium (ALIC, Japan)- Date: July 24-25, 2002
- Venue: Tokyo Bay Ariake Washington Hotel [http://www.ariake-wh.com/]5

Agenda for 2-day Conference:
Date

Descriptions

Number of participants

July 24

Closed meeting for AEN members

Approx. 50

July 25

AEN members + guests from ALIC

Approx. 150(2) Invited guests (from ASEAN 10 countries)- From target countries of experimental projects[1] Staff from government or e-Learning council, [2] Partner of experimental project- From non-target countries of experimental projects[1] Government officers, [2] nongovernmental personnel (for example, fromuniversities)
In addition to the invited ASEAN 10 countries, China and the Republic of Korea werealso notified of the conference. Two or more participants attended the conference fromevery 10 ASEAN country and the Republic of Korea, except for China which did notattend.
(3) Country Report
Before the conference was held, AEN had asked delegates of each country to answer
a questionnaire about situations regarding e-Learning and to provide information orreference materials of e-Learning. Country Reports were finally collected from ninecountries out of 11 participating countries.
They are Singapore, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei.

62．Market: Market Trends of e-Learning
Regarding this topic, surveys were conducted on such basic indices for e-Learning
development as "status of IT promotion (centered on the Internet)", "status of education andtraining system", "status of IT human resources," and "e-Learning industry and market".

2.1 Status of IT Promotion (Centered on the Internet)
Recent information about the Internet usage in target countries and Japan is listed below:
Table 2-1 Internet usage of each country
Total Number Hosts per 10,000 Number
inhabitantsof Hostsof ISPs
SingaporeRepublic of Korea
China
Malaysia
ThailandPhilippine
Indonesia
Vietnam
Myanmar
Laos
Cambodia
BruneiJapan

197,959
439,859
89,35774,007
71,99530,85145,660
487
2
165
623
8,707
7,118,333

479.18
94.01
0.68
31.10
11.75
3.94
2.18
0.06
－
0.31
0.46
259.91559.22

42
99
936
6
18
51
60
4
1
3
4
2
4,000

Penetration
The number ofusers (unit: 1,000) rate of users
1,500
24,38033,700
6,500
3,536
2,000
4,000
1,010
10
10
10
35
55,930

36.31
52.11
2.57
27.31
5.77
2.56
1.91
1.24
0.02
0.19
0.07
10.45
43.94

Note: The number of ISPs of Laos and Cambodia is quoted from the following materials.
ITU (2000.3) Internet on the Mekong: Lao PDR Case Study
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/laos/material/LAO%20CS.pdf
ITU (2002.3) Khmer Internet: Cambodia Case Study
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/cambodia/material/KHM%20CS.pdf
Data: Compiled from the following materials
ITU (2001) Internet indicators: Hosts, Users and Number of PCs
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/Internet01.pdf
ITU (2002.12) International Internet bandwidth in Asia-Pacific & Asia-Pacific Internet economy
http://www.itu.int/itunews/issue/2002/10/indicators.html"Penetration rate of Internet users" is the most frequently used index to evaluate thestatus of Internet usage.
For the number of Internet Service Providers (ISP), the most typical numbers wereadopted though several different numbers are reported for Indochina countries and thePhilippines. There are problems, however, about the reported numbers. For example, thenumber of ISPs in Indonesia and the Philippines is far greater than that of Malaysia, butthere are many cases where the ISPs in the two countries just have the business licenses
or provide only a limited number of services.
As values which can be used to compare different countries, the most typical survey
results from International Telecommunication Union (ITU) were used for these indices, andvarious kinds of documents were also referenced. However, even the ITU's survey results
contained inconsistencies and is not necessarily consistent in all instances.

7

Singapore

36.31

Korea (Rep.)
China

52.11
2.57

Malaysia

27.31

Thailand

5.77

Philippines
Indonesia

1.91

Viet Nam

1.24

2.56

Myanmar 0.02
Lao P.D.R.

0.19

Cambodia 0.07
Brunei

10.45

Japan
0.00

43.94
10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

(Unit:%)

Data: Compiled from the following materials.
ITU (2001) Internet indicators: Hosts, Users and Number of PCs
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/Internet01.pdf
ITU (2002.12) International Internet bandwidth in Asia-Pacific & Asia-Pacific Internet
http://www.itu.int/itunews/issue/2002/10/indicators.html

Figure 2-1 Comparison of Internet penetration ratio

As shown in the above figure, the Republic of Korea is outstanding in Internet
penetration rate. Among Southeast Asian countries, the penetration rate in Thailand andPhilippines is relatively high following that of Singapore and Malaysia. The rate inIndochina countries, except Vietnam, is less than 1 %. The high penetration rate in Brunei
may be ascribed to the country's favorable financial situations as well as its small
population.
The penetration rate only serves as one of the referential indices, however, sincecomparing 2.57 % of China that holds more than a billion population with 10.45% of Brunei
that accommodates a small population does not make much sense. In practice, otherfactors such as the number of users and contents of provided services should also betaken into consideration. For example, broadband services such as CATV and DSL havebecome widespread in metropolises in China, as well as in the Republic of Korea andSingapore, though such services are not included in this comparison because they areprovided in only a few countries.

8Singapore

1,500

Korea (Rep.)
China
Malaysia
ThailandPhilippines
Indonesia

24,38033,700
6,500
3,536
2,000
4,000

Viet Nam 1,010
Myanmar 10
Lao P.D.R. 10
Cambodia 10
Brunei 35Japan055,93010,00020,00030,00040,00050,00060,000(Unit:1000users)

Data: Compiled from the following materials.
ITU (2001) Internet indicators: Hosts, Users and Number of PCs
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/Internet01.pdf
ITU (2002.12) International Internet bandwidth in Asia-Pacific & Asia-Pacific Internet
http://www.itu.int/itunews/issue/2002/10/indicators.html

Figure 2-2 Comparison of Number of Internet Users

Though China is low in penetration rate, it is second to Japan in the target countries interms of the number of users. The number is still rapidly increasing and it is estimated that
China will become the world's largest user of the Internet within the next few years.
Determining comprehensively the current levels of IT infrastructure based on these
indices, the surveyed countries are categorized into following 3 major groups.
- Group A: Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China- Group B: Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei- Group C: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
Although China can be categorized into Group B, it is put in Group A because of thegreat number of users and its potential in the future. Brunei is categorized in Group B, but
we should note that the number of users is less than that of Vietnam in Group C.
Important factors to determine e-Learning growth potential of a country include thepenetration rate of the Internet, that provides the most basic means for e-Learning, and thenumber of potential users (based on the size of population and income level) that is
expected to take advantage of large-scale implementation of e-Learning.

2.2 Status of Education and Training System
This topic focuses on "higher education" and "vocational education" that are target areasof Asia e-Learning Network (AEN).
For higher education, ages for entry and graduation do not greatly differ for each country,
but there are countries, such as Singapore, which are unique in that multiple learning
courses are provided to be selected prior to higher education. As IT promotion is rapidly
evolving in each society, efforts to integrate IT into higher education are attracting more
and more attention.
Vocational education in various forms is conducted in each country. Since in many
countries, there are vocational schools specialized for each area of ministry, the overall
view of vocational education can hardly be seen.

92.3 IT Human Resources Required
This topic deals with "IT human resources required" and "status of IT human resource
training."
In "IT human resources required", current status and future needs of IT humanresources is researched for each country. Research on this topic was conducted mainly by
IT related ministries and organizations in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea,
but few results are available which can be used to compare different countries.
Results of the research conducted by South East Asia Regional Computer
Confederation (SEARCC) back in 1999-2000 were also referenced but ignored, because
the results contain only four of our target countries.
The problem common to all target countries is the shortage of human resources fromscience and technology fields to activate IT promotion. Singapore, which is said to havebecome one of world's leaders in IT development, has also a problem of shortage in IT
human resources, and tries to invite good human resources from overseas and to retain
domestic human resources. In Thailand where those who graduated from higher scienceand technology education are traditionally scarce, shortage of human resources in thesefields causes difficulties in inviting foreign manufacturing industries, and may considerably
affect future growth of the economy. On the other hand, China that holds many graduatesfrom science and technology fields is attracting global attention.
In the "status of IT human resource training" topic, we tried to understand policies andprograms of IT human resource training in each country. Although Asian governments arehighly concerned about IT human resource training and have enforced many policies,
many of them have not been implemented or successful, and further improvements may
be required.

2.4 E-Learning Market Trends
In this topic, "outline of e-Learning industry" and "e-Learning market size" areresearched.
E-Learning has reached a certain level that can be viewed as an "industry" only in a few
countries such as Singapore and the Republic of Korea, if the "e-Learning industry" is to be
represented by e-Learning providers (or vendors) including universities and companies. In
China and Malaysia, there are many cases in which e-Learning is provided by universities
and their affiliated companies. In Thailand, there are cases where projects operated jointly
by the government and private sector play a role of e-Learning vendors, in addition to
universities.
In Indochina countries, since there are only a few projects related to e-Learning, as apart of foreign aids, and a long distance still lies ahead before e-Learning is provided, it isvery doubtful if "e-Learning industry" will ever be established in the future.
As to "e-Learning market size", data from surveys conducted by governments or trusted
research agencies is available only for Singapore and the Republic of Korea at thismoment.
For Singapore, Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) had declined to disclose results ofsurveys that were commissioned to a private research agency, because of defects in the
results, but finally publicized it in February 2003.
With the goal of "becoming a hub of e-Learning in Asia," Singapore has been conducting

10

research on the trends of domestic markets as well as markets in surrounding countries
that are regarded as future markets.
The figure 2-3 shows the trends of the e-Learning market in certain Asian countries,
which was researched by IDA.
(Unit: million US dollars)
1200.00

1000.00

800.00Singapore
Austraria
Hong Kong

600.00China
TaiwanIndia
Republic of Korea

400.00200.00

0.00
2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year

Source: IDA (2003.2) Survey on the e-Learning Market of the region
Figure 2-3 e-Learning Markets in Asia (by Country)

We can consult results of other research conducted by IDC, an American private IT
research agency, which is often quoted for the size of e-Learning market. Although it does
not contain all of the target countries, its results on the market size of e-Learning are
introduced as a reference to corporate education.
The results are greatly different in values from those of IDA's research, which may be
due to the difference in prerequisites set for target markets and in estimating methods.

11Australia

65.5

Hong Kong

14.5

India

15.5

Indonesia 0.03
Republic of Korea

51.4

Malaysia

6.0

New Zealand

6.5

The Philippines 0.2
36.9

China
27.6

Singapore
Taiwan9.4

Thailand 0.09
Other APAC regions 0.001
0.000

10.00020.00030.00040.00050.00060.00070.000Source: Cindy Sim(2001)E-Learning: Panacea or Placebo, Asia Pacific Development
Source: IDC Survey 2001
Note: Bars of our target countries are changed to a darker color.
Figure 2-4 Estimated amount of investment in e-Learning for corporate education in 2005

22%

Australia
13%

Hong Kong
India

17%
28%

Indonesia
Republic of Korea

31%
16%

Malaysia9%

New Zealand
The Philippines

29%

China

41%
18%

Singapore
13%

TaiwanThailand

23%

Other APAC Regions

22%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Source: Cindy Sim(2001)E-Learning: Panacea or Placebo, Asia Pacific Development
Source: IDC Survey 2001
Note: Bars of our target countries are changed to a darker color.
Figure 2-5 Growth rate of e-Learning for corporate education (2000-2005)

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3．Technology: Trends of e-Learning System (Synchronous & Asynchronous)
In this topic, an attempt was initially made to address and categorize e-Learning systems bysynchronous and asynchronous technologies. However, while different countries address
themselves to e-Learning in different ways, we see an increasing number of practical usagesof both synchronous and asynchronous technologies or plans to apply such a usage. We
determined, therefore, not to categorize them by the technology types, but describe first
overviews of each organization or project, and then describe the topic using categorizations
only if applicable.
The most active e-Learning sector in Asia is the field of higher education. There are manyreasons for it: certain number of users constantly exist, communication infrastructures are
relatively well developed in the domestic environment, and e-Learning has been initiated in theprocess of researching IT and educational technology.
Among target countries, some, including Singapore, are in the top level in the world ofdeveloping and operating e-Learning systems that are conformable to international
standardization, while others are still on a level at which only dial-up Internet connections areavailable.
Developing countries are behind in establishing higher education systems, and the ratio ofstudents who enter higher education schools is low, resulting in limited opportunities for young
people to receive higher education. Thus, potential demands for e-Learning may be great.
In Thailand, as correspondence courses (public education) have been widely offered,colleges that provide such courses are promoting utilization of multimedia. In Malaysia, thePhilippines, and Indonesia, efforts are being made in recent years to establish and operatecorrespondence course colleges in the prospect of using multimedia.
On the other hand, in other Indochina countries, little progress has been made in education
systems because not only correspondence courses, but also colleges are very limited in
number. In China and Korea, in addition to conventional higher education institutions to which
students commute, professional e-Learning colleges (e.g. International Cyber University in the
Republic of Korea) and departments (e.g. network institutes in China) that utilize multimedia
are being established.
In China, where IT companies are founded under colleges and play a major role in domestic
IT industry, these companies are serving as e-Learning vendors in many cases. Thus, thecases are increasing where results of research and development of e-Learning systems thatwere intended for use inside colleges are sold to others by affiliated companies. Similar cases
are also found in colleges in Singapore.
As the means of providing lectures, some countries, including Singapore and the Republicof Korea, mainly use the Internet, and others, including China, Malaysia, Thailand, andIndonesia, actively use satellite communications, depending on each one's geographicalconditions.
Organizations that represent major instances of e-Learning differ for each country, which
include colleges, government projects, vendors and a few user companies. This made itdifficult to compare all instances comprehensively. Therefore, a category list was created foreach country for better understanding of each case, although the system operation methods(synchronous or asynchronous) were not easy to be determined because of the amount of
information available. Details to characterize the case are described in the Remarks column.
Applicable items are checked with "x" in the grid. Items that are not applicable or unknown
because enough information is not available, are left empty in the grid.

13

3.1 Singapore
Colleges in Singapore are considered to be in the top level in the world of theirapproaches to e-Learning.
E-Learning vendors include many foreign firms such as American companies. Several
unique user companies exist, but e-Learning utilization by private companies has juststarted.
Lectures are available in English.

Institution name/ Project nameCategory

Synchronous Asynchronous

National University ofSingapore (NUS)

Universityxx

Nanyang Technological
University (NTU)

UniversityxxSingapore Management
University (SMU)

UniversityxRemarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)
IVLE and Open IVLE, NUSCast
EdVeNTUre,
Blackboard Consortium
SMUConnect

Singapore-MIT Alliance(SMA)

Government,
domestic/
foreign
universities

Civil Service College

Training
institutex

e-Learning portal site "Open
Academy"Polytechnicx

TraIL, THEC, CITE

Companyx

Off-the-shelf, service manual,product knowledge, preparation
course for certification
examination, and others

Companyx

Taxi Vocational
License(VL)Course

Temasek Polytechnic (TP)xx

NTUC Income

CityCABA joint program of NUS, NTU,
and MIT

3.2 Republic of Korea
Main leaders of e-Learning industry in Korea are educational institutions, especiallycyber-colleges in higher education fields, and large-scale enterprises using e-Learning forcorporate education, as well as e-Learning vendors who provide these organizations withservices.
There are numerous e-Learning vendors domestically, and most of them are engaged inachieving solutions, contents development, and educational service businesses. It is said
that the number of such vendors exceeds 100. There are also other firms which sell LMSs
that conform to SCORM.
Main firms are listed below:• Mediopia Technology (www.mediopia.co.kr)• Samsung SDS (www.e-campus.co.kr)• Credu (www.credu.com)• Hanbitnet (www.hanbitnet.com)• Baeoom (www.Baeoom.com)

14

Status of e-Learning users is described below:
Approximately 20,000 students attend 15 domestic cyber universities, and approximately
300,000 workers participate in e-Learning courses to improve their capabilities. Further,approximately 100,000 school teachers are making use of e-Learning.
Online classes are used by the general public, for such subjects as English education,
clerical work, or computerization.
Lectures given in English are not many.
Institution name /Project nameCategory

Cyber universities (15universities as of 2002, which University
will continue to increase)

Synchronous Asynchronous

Remarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)xx

Offered by combining TV
conference system based on
PCs, mail, chat, etc.

Ewha Womans University

UniversityxInternational Cyber University (ICU)

Mediopia Technology

Companyx

x

EduTrack

Samsung SDS

Companyxxe-Campus, eduPortx

Cyber MBA, e-Learning
specialized course

Credu

Company

3.3 China
Characteristics of China lie in the fact that IT enterprises affiliated with colleges arepromoting domestic IT industry. There are many cases in which these IT enterprises are
acting as e-Learning vendors. Thus, in China, cases are increasing where results ofresearch and development of e-Learning systems that were intended for use insidecolleges are sold to others by affiliated companies.
"Network Schools" dedicated for correspondence education using multimedia are being
established within universities which aim to attract more students, and as many as 20,000
students enrolled in a specific case.
In China, usage of satellite communications have long since been frequent, and satellites
are used to deliver lectures to local centers of those "Network Schools" of major universities.
Few enterprises have started to take advantage of e-Learning for corporate education.
Lectures given in English are scarce.
Institution name/ Project nameCategory

Synchronous Asynchronous

Fudan University

Tsinghua University

Renmin University of China
Peking University /Beida-Online
PRCEDU.com

Remarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)

Universityxx

Cooperation with Aoyama Gakuin
University and Waseda University
in the past Affiliates with vendors
Conformable to SCORM

Universityxx

Cooperation with Waseda
University in the pastAffiliates with vendors

UniversityxxOperates network school jointlywith China Net

UniversityxxCompany affiliated with Peking
Universityx

Provides platforms and educational
contents

Company15

3.4 Malaysia
In Malaysia, e-Learning technologies are being developed mainly by colleges andenterprises, including the University of Malaya which first developed COL (Course OnLine)in 1998. Ever since, various colleges have been developing e-Learning systems on theirown. Such systems include Multimedia Learning System (MMLS) by MMU or VirtualOn-line Instructional Support System (VOISS) by UNITAR.
UNITAR also provides schooling at its college specialized in correspondence education.
Its affiliated e-Learning vendor company, with dozens of employees, is responsible for thedevelopment of contents. Additionally, it is devoting itself to internationalization, and offers
lectures at regional centers in Cambodia and Indonesia.
MMU was successful in making its own LMS "MMLS" conformable to SCORM in the
AEN experimental project.
Lectures are available in English.

Institution name/ Project nameCategory

Synchronous Asynchronous

Multimedia University(MMU)

Universiti Tun Abdul Razak(UNITAR)

Universityxx

University

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Universiti Sains Malaysia
University(USM)
Open University of Malaysia
University(UNITEM)
Universiti Teknologi MARA
University(UITM)
Universiti Putra Malaysia
University(UPM)
National Institute of Public
Civil servent
Administration Malaysia
training(INTAN)
organization

Remarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)
Funded 100% by Telecom
Malaysia
Established to educate IT
engineers taking responsibility for
MSC plan
LMS "MMLS" on its own
Development group consisting of
40 members
First virtual college in Malaysia
Also positive in international
activities
Owns affiliated vendor company
Uses VideoNet for delivery over
Internet
College specialized in remoteeducation
Established to educate humanresources of Bumiptra
Mahirnet is in charge oftechnology
Organization to take over J-Net

x

3.5 Thailand
E-Learning technologies in Thailand have been developed under the leadership ofcolleges and enterprises. In addition, satellite communications and TV broadcastings havebeen used to support local elementary and secondary educations. Two correspondence
education colleges have been established, based on the concept of British Open University,and they are on the way to the multimedia era.
Some projects, such as NSTDA/NECTEC which was led jointly by the government andprivate companies, have been transformed to act as vendors.
Lectures given in English are scarce.

16

Institution name/ Project name
Chulalongkorn University(CU)

Thammasat University(TU)

Sukhothai ThammathiratOpen University (STOU)
King Mongkut's Institute ofTechnology, Ladkrabang(KMITL)
Chiang Mai University(CMU)
Asia Institute of Technology(AIT)
Distance Learning
Foundation(DLF)
Thailand Training Network(TTN)
LearnOnline
NSTDA Online Learning
Project (NOLP)

Category Synchronous Asynchronous

Universityxx

Universityxx

University

Universityxx

UniversityxUniversityx

x

Privatecompanyx

x

Privatecompany
Privatecompany
PrivatecompanyxxxRemarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)
CU-WB
Knowledge Management project
CU Flexible Learning
ChulaOnline
Remote lectures connected to Universityof Osaka
Remote lectures connected to Nagaoka
University of Technology
STOU Virtual University Project
Uses satellite transmitting facility forremote lectures connected to Tokai
University and Tokyo Technology
University
CMU Online Learning
AEN pilot experiment project incooperation with NSTDA and Tokyo
Technology University
Implemented remote education using
satellites
Provides continuously professional
trainings for industry
Provides WBT courses
Provides e-Learning solutions to
educational or corporate organizations

3.6 Philippines
E-Learning related projects in the Philippines are in progress through cooperation
between the government and private companies, in addition to each party's individual
activity. Especially, many projects have been created for the purpose of establishing
infrastructures through joint efforts of private companies and governmental organizations.
With regard to systems and technologies, CBT or multimedia educational materials areused. As an asynchronous technology, CD-ROMs are typically used, in addition to WBT.
Among lectures offered by colleges and others, few are using WBT systems ofasynchronous type.
Many lectures at the graduate school level are offered in English.

17

Institution name/ Project nameCategory

Synchronous Asynchronous

University of thePhilippines, Open
University (UPOU)

Universityx

De La Salle University(DLSU)

UniversityxInternational Rice
Governmental
Research Institute (IRRI)
foreignfoundation
STAC-J

Nongovernmentalorganizationx

Remarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)
OPEN IVLE
Lectures are delivered throughInternet
mba.online@gsb InterMATL
Rice Knowledge Bankx

Japan Pilot Distance Education
Project
Videoconference system
EDUCONFAB 2002x

3.7 Indonesia
In Indonesia, although needs for remote education are high, in view of its wide spreading
territory and 200 millions of population, e-Learning which uses networks over the Internet
is not developed. Factors preventing e-Learning from evolving include the Indonesian
government's policy, which does not admit diplomas for e-Learning except for IndonesianOpen Learning University, a correspondence education style university. On the other hand,a few colleges (Bandon Institute of Technology, Bogor Agricultural University, Gadjamada
University, Diponegoro University, etc.) have started to investigate e-Learning.
Lectures given in English are scarce.

Institution name/ Project nameCategory

Indonesian Open Learning
University

University

Petra Christian University ofSurabaya

University

Synchronous AsynchronousxxxRemarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)
Offers tutorials only online.
Offers online a part of lectures

Indonesian Distance Learning Governmental
Network (IDLN)
organization

Conducts surveys on
e-Learning(MHA:Ministry of Home
Affairs)

Currently planning
Implementation
plan is aided by Japanese
Ministry of Public Management,
Home Affairs, Posts andTelecommunications

Governmental
projectx

18x

3.8 Vietnam
In Vietnam, most e-Learning related activities are based on individual projects, primarily
owing to communication infrastructure environments and level of IT literacy.
The e-Learning center established in the suburbs of Hanoi, with support of the Ministryof Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan, is expected to form a central entity for future
e-Learning related activities, and currently offers services through digital training materials
to be learned using LAN installed within this center's facility.
Lectures given in English are scarce.
Institution name/ Project name
Hanoi University ofTechnology (HUT)

The Distance
Education project

Vietnam humanresource training
project

E-Learning center(affiliated to Ministry of
Science, Technology
and Environment)
MeetingPlaza

Category

Synchronous Asynchronous

University

University
joint
project
Joint project
between
Public service
corporationand college

x

2 WBT courses for physics areoffered on the Web site, which isthought to have been started in
September 2000x

3 different experiments wereconducted in the fields of
economics, science, andothers using WBT, duringphase 1 which is between
April 1998 and March 2003
Conducted remote training
experiments starting from1999 up to 2000

x

Governmental
project
Joint projectof privatecompanies

Remarks(Important point, keyword,
financial sources, budget scale)

x

x

x

Supported by Japanese
Ministry of Economy, Tradeand Industry
Commercial service to offer
TV conference service
using ASP in Vietnam

3.9 Myanmar
In Myanmar, e-Learning had hardly been experimented with or implemented so far, andis far behind other Asian countries in comparison.
YUCS was once used as one of the locations to receive lectures through satellite
Internet communication, as a part of "SOIASIA Project" operated by Keio University. The
organization that participated in this project was the college itself (entire institution), andattendants were approximately 80 consisting of students in the latter part of their doctoral
courses and graduate school students. Video and audio was transmitted through 500kbps
lines from Japan, which were responded to with a number of e-mails from Myanmar.
The very few findings that have been confirmed so far are as follows.

19

Institution name/ Project name
E-Learning center

Category

Remarks
Synchronous Asynchronous (Important point, keyword, financial
sources, budget scale)

Joint projectwith thegovernmentx

Uses WBT to provide basic dataprocessing engineer's training
materials for data processing
engineer examination

3.10 Laos
No information is available on e-Learning activities conducted independently by Laos.
NUOL was once used as one of locations to receive lectures through satellite Internet
communication, as a part of "SOIASIA Project" operated by Keio University. The
organization that participated in this project was the technology faculty of NUOL, andattendants were teaching staff of computer education department. LAN was partly installed
within the institution, and chat windows were used on the Internet dial-up connections, tosubmit questions to Japan and to explain various situations concerning Laos.

3.11 Cambodia
Whether appropriate information exists or not is unknown.

3.12 Brunei
In Brunei, e-Learning activities are being carried out in Universiti Brunei Darussalam(UBD). UBD is now considering using e-Learning to supplement existing methods ofoffering lectures, and plans to employ e-Learning in a few faculties within the next 2 years.
Some teachers have already started to experiment with e-Learning using TV conference
systems, and currently trying to determine a common basis for the contents of courses thatcan be applied on commonly used platforms.

Institution name/ Project name
Universiti Brunei
Darussalam(UBD)

Remarks
Category Synchronous Asynchronous (Important point, keyword, financial
sources, budget scale)
University

TV conference system forinternational conferences was
installed in UBD Education
Technology Center (ETC)x20

4．Advanced Activities in ASEAN
This topic researches movements within ASEAN countries plus China and Korea, in termsof "Next Generation Learning Infrastructure such as Collaborative Learning" and "Quality
Standard" which represent advanced fields of e-Learning.
However, these are the advanced fields to be focused on at the future stage where
e-Learning activities are well established and materialized, but in Asia which has just started
e-Learning, the number of countries in which e-Learning related activities are recognized islimited.
In international conferences, many specialists suggested that the quality standards ofe-Learning would be our main concern in the future, but few specific procedures for activities
were mentioned.
The countries are as follows, in which activities have been confirmed for " Next Generation
Learning Infrastructure such as Collaborative Learning" and "Quality Standard":
Country

Collaborative Learning

Quality Standard

Singapore

E-Learning Competency Centre (ECC) publishes
Efforts to apply e-Learning in colleges
contain efforts for collaborative learning. For "Quality Criteria for E-Learning Courseware" and"Recommended Processes for E-Learning
example, in "SMA Program", in order toCourseware Development".
encourage communication between
Quality Control (QC) approach is taken forteachers and students not only during
Quality standard for coursewares, and Quality
lectures but also in other occasions,
Assurance (QA) approach is taken for the
most-advanced facilities are installed toevaluation criteria of the courseware
improve the quality of collaborative
development process. These approaches would
learning. NUS is also proceeding incomplement each other to help improve thedeveloping a plan for a network
quality of e-Learning coursewares.
collaborative learning environment, called"Collaborative Virtual Interactive
Simulations (C-VISions) System".

Republic of
Korea

Korean e-Learning vendors include many
firms that develop their own LMS, andpresumably they also develop products forcollaborative learning. However,organizational efforts conducted by thegovernment or e-Learning relatedorganizations is unknown.

Quality standards of e-Learning contents andservices attract high concern, but have not been
defined by the government or by associations /organizations.

China"Chinese E-Learning Technology
Standardization Committee (CELTSC)",
which is affiliated with Chinese Ministry of
Education and is promoting standardizationof e-Learning technology, has a working
subcommittee for collaborative learning(CELTS-16).

"Chinese E-Learning Technology Standardization
Committee (CELTSC)" contains a working
subcommittee for "standards for educational
service quality".
To maintain the level of education, the Ministryof Education announced "recommendations on
advanced control of network education school
within college to improve education quality" in
July 2002.

Philippines

Technical Committee in CHED is trying to
improve e-Learning contents quality.
It released "Updated Policies and Guidelines on
Open Learning and Distance Education", toemphasize the necessity of instructional design.
In addition, it also plans and defines "Quality
Assurance Framework".

21

5．Government Policy and Vision (Mid- and Long-term Direction)
This topic describes the overview of IT policies in “Status of IT Policy”, and then focuses
among them on the educational policies in "e-Learning Related Measures as Part of IT or
Education Policy". As part of such e-Learning related measures, approaches of eachgovernment in cooperation with private sector to the e-Learning standardization are also
discussed. Countries having e-Learning standardization organizations or consortia are
introduced in this topic.
As for Intellectual property and copyright issues, which indirectly support (or prevent)
penetration of e-Learning, information related indirectly to e-Learning (if any) are described,
since information that is directly related to e-Learning was scarcely available.
In "Vision", any mid- or long-range policies or plans that are meant to promote e-Learning
are discussed, though it may overlap to some extent with the description of e-Learning related
measures.

5.1 Status of IT Policies
Policies related to IT promotion are proposed or enforced in every country, as shown in
the following table.
However, we should note that the levels of implementation and achievement can vary,because some developing countries set a goal regarding IT development which seems
impossible to attain (such as training some 10 thousand of IT human resources), or
because some plans are not put into operation due to a regime change and other reasons.

22Country
Singapore

Table 5-1 Strategies for Computerization by Each Country
Computerization Strategies
Goal, Plan, and others
Infocomm21(2000-2005)
Singapore ONE(1996-)

Republic of e-KOREA VISION 2006
Korea
(2002-2006)

Cyber Korea 21(1999-2002)
China
Malaysia

10th 5-year Plan
(2001-2005)
8th National Development
Plan (2001-2005)
MSC Plan(1996-)

ThailandPhilippines
Indonesia

Vietnam

IT 2010(2001-2010)
ICT Master Plan
(2002-2006)
IT21 (1998-2007)
President instructions for
ICT (IT) development andpromotion (2001-)
Nusantara21(Delayed: -2004)
IT Vision2020(2005-2020)

Myanmar

IT Master Plan
(2001-2010)

Laos

ICT Guideline(2001-)

Cambodia

ICT policy plan(2001-2005)
8th National Development
Plan (2001-2005)

Brunei

Strategic plan for information and communication technology
promotion. Aims at becoming a premier infocomm hub.
Action plan by IT2000. Project to construct infrastructure anddevelop applications, to allow for connection of eachhousehold via broadband network to take advantage ofmultimedia services at home using high-speed Internet.
IT Vision. Plan which focuses on enhancement of people's
awareness in computerization, in accordance with evolving
infrastructures such as high-speed communication networks.
Computerization in society or industry is encouraged, andinternational cooperation is reinforced to be ready for global
information society. Aims to increase usage of the Internet to90% of the population.
International competitiveness and quality of people's living
will be raised to the level of advanced countries, byconstructing a high-speed data communication infrastructure,promoting the creation of electronic government, etc.
Targeting to construct high-speed networks.
Aims to become ICT multimedia hub, by completing
communication infrastructure, developing human resourcesin ICT area, etc.
An area of 15km x 50km between Kuala Lumpur and the newinternational airport, which are connected by a high-speed
optical fiber network, will be used as a "testbed forcomputerized society", and central location for data
communication industry will be created at the same time.
Project constituting a part of "Vision 2002" plan whose aim is
to be counted as one of the advanced countries by 2020.
IT policy plan oriented to 5 directions; e-Society,e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Industry, and e-Education.
Action plan to realize IT2010. Aims to complete broadband
network for use in every province.
Consists of 3 phases and aims finally to become an Asianknowledge center before 2010.
Aims to promote democratization, to improve living standards, toconstruct and promote a national data communication
foundation, and to create an electronic government.
Project to connect domestic islands through high-speed
backbone by 2001.
Aims to bring domestic IT industry to a higher level than thatof surrounding countries by 2010. Also aims to provide adomestic communication super highway across the nation ata reasonable price, and increase the number of Internet
users up to the world's average ratio.
Aims to construct information and communication
infrastructure, to establish and operate an active IT industry,
to utilize IT in education and training, etc.
Promotes construction of ICT infrastructure, utilization of ICT
in domestic social economy strategies, economy, andnational defense, and promotion of human resource
education to utilize and evolve ICT.
5-year master plan by NICTDA. Short-, mid- and long-range
policy to promote ICT.
Aims at construction of an infrastructure, human resource
development, and social service improvement. Human
resource development and IT utilization are emphasized.

Source: multiple reference materials

235.2 E-Learning Related Measures as Part of IT or Educational Policies
Items relating to educational policies are mainly extracted here, though it overlaps tosome extent with the above IT policies. It is assumed that these policies are directly or
indirectly involved in e-Learning promotion to varying degrees.
Table 5-2 IT Policies Related to Educational Policies in each Asian country
Country

Policy or Project

Singapore"IT Education Master Plan (April 1997-)"

Republic of Korea

Promotion of "Second phase comprehensive plan for ICT usage in education""Plan to promote education appropriate for computerization age (July 1996-)"

China"Education Management IT Standardization (1999-)""Plan of education promotion for 21st century (1998-)"

Malaysia"Smart School plan (April 2001-)"

Thailand"UniNet (1997-)""SchoolNet (1996-)"

Philippines"PREGINET (1994-)"

Indonesia

Policy for human resource education usng IT was discussed in "No.133/M.PAN/5/2001(5-year plan)"

Vietnam

Usage of ICT in education was discussed in "Ministry of Education and Training
No.29/2001/CT Direction (2001)"

Myanmar"E-education Internet system (under consideration)"

Laos

Draft for "ICT human resource education action plan" project was created in "ICTguideline (2001-)", and preparations are being made to ask for aids to supporting
countries.

Cambodia"SchoolNet project" is implemented jointly with e-ASEAN task force.

Brunei

Human resource development and usage of IT were discussed in "8th National
Development plan (2001-2005)"

Source: multiple reference materials
Major e-Learning related organizations are as follows: These organizations are often
acting also as contact locations for AEN in individual countries (except for China where no
definitive contact is assigned).

24

Table 5-3 Organization involving e-Learning in each country
Country

Organization<Agency if deputized by government>[Time of establishment]

Description of activities

Singapore

E-Learning Competency Centre(ECC)[December 2001]

Central consortium for e-Learning which wasestablished by IDA and other entities. Main
activities consist of acceptance of e-Learning
standards and promotion of its usage, holding
seminars for diffusionand education, and development andpromotion of e-Learning guidelines (quality
criteria and development evaluation criteria ofcourseware, etc).
Holds Plugfest, standardization seminar, etc.

Republic of Korea

Korea e-Learning Industry
Association (KELIA)[September 2002]

Organization founded mainly by e-Learning
related enterprises, and also supported bygovernment. Primary activities include
promotion of e-Learning industry, finding
markets, implementation of joint projects withforeign organizations.
* Note: The following e-Learning relatedorganizations consisting mainly of colleges
are also cooperative members of KELIA:
・Korea Association of Cyber Education
・Korea University Alliance for Cyber
Education

China

Chinese E-Learning Technology
Standardization Committee(CELTSC)[2000]

Although no industry-government-academia
consortium is established, this committee ispromoting standardization of e-Learningtechnology under control of the Ministry of
Education.

Malaysia

National Steering Committee on
e-Learning[October 2002]

A committee established by government,
universities, etc. Primary activities include aninternational conference held in January 2002.

Thailand

NECTEC,
UniNet e-Learning Consortium, etc.

NSTDA/NECTEC is leading governmental
activities.
UniNet e-Learning & Multimedia Consortium
has operated only within colleges since 2002.
Collaboration with related organizations with
AEN, are planned for the future.

Philippines

ITECC HRD e-Learning Sub
committee[2001]

A committee organized by government,colleges, enterprises, etc.
Primary activities include an international
conference held in August 2002.

Source: multiple reference materials

25

5.3 Laws Regulating Rights for Intellectual Property and Personal Information in
e-Learning
It is said that legal awareness is low in Asia as far as rights of intellectual property andpersonal information are concerned.
Along with increasing Internet usage, however, IP and personal information issues are
beginning to be discussed widely. But it is unknown if any laws are enforced regarding
rights of intellectual property or personal information directly that are related to e-Learning.
Furthermore, some specialists from countries which are actively addressing themselves
to e-Learning have an opinion that "legal restrictions, if used inappropriately, may prevent
e-Learning from progressing that is barely started." It may take, therefore, considerable
time before any conclusions are reached.

5.4 Vision
Countries that have developed mid-range vision on e-Learning are Singapore and Korea.
As for China, there are promotion activities on e-Learning as part of higher education, but
nothing could be confirmed as national vision.
In other countries, education and promotion of its computerization are often addressed innational development or IT policies.

5.5 International and National Conferences
Conferences are described here, including large-scale international and domestic
conferences for e-Learning, and conferences involving member organizations belonging to
Asia e-Learning Network (AEN), in order to understand respective movements ofe-Learning in each country.
Conferences are listed below, which AEN members attended:

26

# of
attendants

Remarks (such as participation ofJapan)

Sponsored jointly
by NECTEC andMinistry of
Economy, Tradeand Industry,
Japan

200

Foreign lecturers from Japan,
Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines.
Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry, Japan, (METI) and ALIC gave
lectures.
Also participated by Cambodia, Laos,and Vietnam.

AEN Conference 2002 Tokyo,
AEN Promotion
July 24-25, 2002 Committee(Ministry of
Economy, Tradeand Industry,
ALIC, etc)

200

12 AEN member countries participated,
and lectures were given on e-Learning
situations, followed by discussions andannouncements of experimental
projects of the year.
Japan presided over all proceedings as
secretariat.

The 1st National
Conference on
e-Learning

ManilaAugust 1-2,
2002

ITECC (Filipino
agencyresponsible for
AEN )

900

A Filipino domestic conference. An
exhibition was also held participated byabout 10 companies. ALIC also
participated.

Comtech /Commart Thailand
2002,
e-Leader Seminar

Bangkok
October 18,
2002

NECTEC andothers40

A seminar was held as one of theexhibitions relating to IT for domestic
participants.
Lecturers from METI, Japan, also
participated.

Korea e-Learning
2002

Seoul
November
14-15, 2002

Koreangovernment,
KELIA

400

A Korean domestic conference.
Accompanied by an exhibition
participated by some 10 companies.
Two foreign lecturers participated. ALIC
lectured on AEN.

International Seminaron e-Learning

Kuala Lumpur
January 21-22,
2003

National
Committee on
e-Learning

70-100Operated mainly by Multimedia
University (MMU).
Foreign lecturers from Japan andSingapore participated.
METI, Japan, and ALIC gave lectures.
Technical seminar was held on the 2nd
day.

Event
Asia e-Learning
Initiative Forum

Location & Date
BangkokJune 5, 2002

Sponsor

Source: multiple reference materials

27

6．International Activities: International Efforts and Promotion Activities within
ASEAN, such as e-ASEAN
6.1 Overview
As effective measures to aid human resource education in developing countries,
e-Learning has long since been used by international organizations or international
networks. International university associations also are interested in e-Learning as a partof educational exchanges and reinforcement of cooperation.
In international organizations, though positive efforts are being made to resolve digital
divide between advanced and developing countries, few activities are performed forpractical usage of e-Learning.
Primary e-Learning cases found among international organizations are listed below:
World Bank operates a program named "Global Development Learning Network(GDLN)" using a satellite and the Internet.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labor Organization(ILO), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are conducting e-Learning related
activities, focusing on human resource development in developing countries.
Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) is engaged in activities
related to e-Learning at one of its affiliated centers.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to provide developing countries with a humanresource development program called "Center for Learning, Information, Communication,
and Knowledge (CLICK)."In e-ASEAN, however, few programs utilizing e-Learning were realized for such reasons
as shortage of funds, though it was in the initial plan.
Most activities conducted by the university federation do not advance more than sharing
information at international conferences held to discuss this issue. However, activities such as
UNIVERSITAS21 have been started jointly by enterprises and colleges to run e-Learningbusiness.

6.2 Major cases
E-Learning related activities performed by international organizations (includinginternational cooperative activities) and by university associations in Asia are grouped andlisted as follows:28

Organization/
Project

Type/
Characteristics

World BankInternationalorganization

e-ASEANInternationalorganization

SEAMEO

UNDP

Activities related to e-Learning
Providing Planning

Sharing
Information

Uses GDLN to provide e-Learning
to developing countries.

x

Partially halted due to financial
shortage.

xInternationalorganizationx

Internationalorganizationxx

Supports member countries throughhuman resource development using
e-Learning, and through survey
research.
Provides multiple human resource
development programs.

UNESCOInternationalorganization

Remarksx

x

ILO

Internationalorganization

ADB

Internationalorganization

APEC

Internationalorganizationx

UNIVERSITAS21

University
Associationx

AUN

University
Association

APRU

University
Association

x

AAOU

University
Associationx

Planning to develop training
materials as a project of Bangkok
office. Mainly funded by theJapanese government.
Creates guidelines for remoteeducation teachers training.

x
Planning CLICK.

xxx

Performs extensive activities.
Cooperates with Thomson Learning
Planning e-Learning.

x

Holds conference once a year.
Holds conference once a year.
Topic for 2003 is e-Learning.

6.3 Future Prospects
E-Learning related activities conducted by international organizations as part of aids inhuman resource development for developing countries have been traditionally employing
synchronous distance lectures using videoconference systems, but presently the numberof activities are increasing which use asynchronous WBT systems. In developing countries
too, efforts for e-Learning have already started mainly at universities, and needs are
increasing for more sophisticated e-Learning systems and operational support.
Although it is not mentioned here, we see an increasing number of e-Learning activities
as part of education aid projects, from among aid projects hosted by bilateral aid
organizations located in Europe or North America. In Japan, Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) is planning to create a synchronous remote education systemcalled "J-Net".
Thus, there are various international activities related to e-Learning, but each has its
own characteristics in accordance with each involving organization's particular purposes.

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Up to now, activities tended to be experimental and most of them terminated within a shortperiod of time, but such activities as GDLN are continuously conducted as "infrastructure
as mechanism", it seems that they are gradually securing substantial implications.
Maintaining consistency among all different activities is not easy, due to differences amongtarget countries, involving organizations, and methods of implementation. However, somemechanism may be necessary to properly concatenate each one's advantages andoutcomes.

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7．Direction of Pilot Experiments
7.1 Background of Experimental Projects
At the establishment of Asia e-Learning Network (AEN), the following three objectives
are set as primary issues:•
Share information on the latest e-Learning trends and technologies•
Promote interoperability and resource sharing of e-Learning systems and contents•
Promote the spread of knowledge on the effective use of e-Learning
An international conference "AEN Conference 2002" was held in July 2002, which waspresided by METI and Advanced Learning Infrastructure Consortium (ALIC), to definitively
inaugurate AEN. An agreement was made at the conference that each member country
would address itself to following activities:•
Build closer cooperation among government, academic and business sectors in eachcountry. Participants are expected to distribute information on AEN activities to thepeople concerned in their country.
•
Carry out joint projects and share the results with member countries.
•
Promote the exchange of information, know-how, experiences, and best practices inreal or virtual form.
2002 was the first year, and activities that have been planned according to theabove-mentioned objectives constitute this year's experimental projects.
Most of the international projects relating to e-Learning so far were only for theestablishment of communication infrastructures or short-term exchange of lectures. Thus,
AEN attaches great importance to the acquisition of know-how for system/content
development and interoperability, to enable other organizations to deploy the outcome andknow-how in parallel. After research and analysis of e-Learning related activities done bydomestic and foreign universities and IT human resource development organizations, andas a result of discussions with major organizations which are experienced in e-Learning
fields and considered capable of independent activity, six pilot experiments weresuccessfully developed by Japan and five counterparts consisting of Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam.
The characteristics of AEN experimental projects are as follows:(1) Project covering extensive area including six countries
This is the first year of AEN inauguration, and six countries which constitute about halfof all the 13 countries are directly participating in experimental projects, making themlarge-scale international projects.
(2) Collaboration among government, academic and business sectors
Traditionally, international e-Learning experiment projects have been conducted
between universities. In addition to this kind of projects, an enterprise-based cooperative
relationship is sought through the enhancement of e-Learning systems development
and its operation, and the projects are started while the cooperative relationship is being
established between colleges and enterprises. Other projects were also developed,
which were conducted jointly by the Thailand government and a Japanese enterprise, in31

order to aid data processing engineer test education required by the government.
Relationship of government, academic and business sectors to constitute the projects
is shown in the following figure.

Figure 7-1 Basic models for experimental project promotion

In reality, however, e-Learning related enterprises in Asia are still scarce in number,and situations vary depending on each project. For some projects, Japan aided largely
the system operation, and for others, local universities or research and development
departments within universities are assigned to them.
(3) Strengthened cooperation with e-Learning related entities through pilot experiments.
To perform pilot experiments, cooperations have been realized with not only
universities in target countries, but also local e-Learning related organizations and major
agency’s staff, which were beneficial for "enhancement of cooperations among
consortiums from each country" which is the objective of AEN. Examples include
Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand. For Malaysia, aids were extended toestablishment of local consortium.
(4) Conformance to SCORM in every project
WBT courses were developed and implemented in conformance to SCORM, whichhave been accepted as the de facto standard of WBT systems. This was the firstexperiment for a cooperative project conducted by multiple Asian countries.
(5) Synchronous e-Learning blended with asynchronous one
In an actual learning environment, it is desirable that face-to-face classes or32

synchronous e-Learning is blended with asynchronous e-Learning to enhance the effectof learning, instead of operating asynchronous e-Learning alone. Although conformanceto the WBT standard, SCORM, was emphasized through the projects, videoconference
systems using satellite communication or a landline were utilized in some projects.

7.2 Summary of Experimental Projects
The details of each pilot experiment are not described here, since resulting reports werecreated for each of them, but its overview may be summarized as follows: This overview issummarized from the viewpoint of instructional design, and the contents are grouped into
"educational engineering point" and "system point".

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Table 7-1 Summary of experimental projects from viewpoint of instructional design

Source: Advanced Learning Infrastructure Consortium (ALIC)

7.3 Future Perspective
With the establishment of AEN, this year saw a ever greater attention to e-Learning in
Asian countries.
As described above, organizations of e-Learning related entities is progressing in every

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country. ECC in Singapore and ITECC in the Philippines are bringing their consortiums intofull-scale activity. In Malaysia, an e-Learning consortium was formally inaugurated in thefall of 2002. In Thailand too, an organization of consortium seems to have begun. In Korea,
though it is not a target of pilot experiments, a consortium has already been inaugurated,
and in China a committee is continuously working for standardized technologies.
Formerly, leading organizations (mainly universities) only applied e-Learning
experimentally in developing countries, but as e-Learning begins to attract attention, more
and more IT enterprises in addition to educational organizations participate in thee-Learning market in Southeast Asia too. In view of such movements, it may be highly
evaluated that AEN was established to contribute to Asian collaborations by providing pilot
experiment projects or international conferences.
The initial objectives of this year's experimental projects, which were conducted as the
AEN's main activity, have been attained in a general sense, since it covered many
countries in an extensive area, conducted developments based on SCORM and thus
assuring the interoperability and increasing the possibilities of cooperating with otherorganizations or activities. Furthermore, local e-Learning related organizations cooperated
in conducting the projects.
Through this year's activities, both possibilities and challenges were understood bypracticing e-Learning course development that is conformant to SCORM, not only in Asian
counterparts but also in Japan.
However, the status and future needs for both Asian counterparts and Japan, whichwere determined through this year projects, should be taken into consideration whenplanning future AEN activities.
The following figure is centered on "possibility of increase of participations" and"availability for participation" to summarize AEN activities: As mentioned earlier, while
overall improvements are progressing, there still exist such disparities in Asia. This year, infocusing on the following (2) level, pilot experiments were conducted together with top level
organizations from each country that seem capable of exercising e-Learning.

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Availability for participation
Although countries are shown foreach level, they are only for reference,since how to set levels is different foreach organization involved.

(1)Working withJapan in advanced
activities for such
purpose as
standardization(2)Working together
with Japan, but
Japan provides
materials,
know-hows, etc.

(3)Promoting
e-Learning fromthe basic level

Advanced level(Singapore, Korea, etc.) - Sophisticated andtechnological issues are addressed,
including standardization researches orinteroperability experiments.

(1)

Course development and testing level(Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, etc) – At
this level, course development andtesting are conducted, with Japansupporting as for conformance tostandards. Promotion and education are
still needed.

(2)

Diffusion promotion level(Indochina countries, etc) - Ase-learning and standardization are notfully understood, diffusion andeducation are performed through WBT
and intensive trainings.

(3)

Degree of participations
Figure 7-2 levels of AEN activities

The following options are suggested for future activities.
(1) Efforts for promotion of diffusion and enhancement of international standardization incooperation with leading organizations (connected to (1) level).
In cooperation with leading organizations in Singapore, etc., fields are addressed
whose results are applicable to many countries and that can only be addressed bycountries well advanced in those fields. Those fields include, for example, researches
and developments in innovative areas such as the creation of guidelines for quality
standards and instructional design which are currently attracting attention and are also
common issues in Asia, as well as cooperative learning. On the other hand, it may bepossible that these outcomes are converted into digital learning materials and offered
online to AEN member organizations. In order to promote practical standardization,
activities including Plugfest are promoted in cooperation with the above (1) level
organizations.
(2) Increase and enhancement of target and participating organizations for pilot
experiment projects (reinforcement above (2) level)
Based on pilot experiment projects for this year, participation of new organizations andcountries are encouraged. Currently, the subject of pilot experiment projects is up toeach organization involved, but capabilities to complement and cooperate each otherregarding the contents are issues yet to be resolved, though interoperability has beentechnologically assured. For this reason, it may be effective that most required fields are
determined in the entire AEN, and appropriate organizations are assigned todevelopment and operation.

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(3) Promotion of diffusion and education of e-Learning (improvement of above (3) level)
In many countries to whom e-Learning is a new issue, it is still necessary to practicediffusion and education at both (2) and (3) levels. For example, at the (2) level, diffusionand education are required in specialized areas, such as technical seminars concerning
SCORM to promote standardization. On the other hand, in (3) level countries including
those in Indochina, activities are required such as seminars for deeper knowledge andinterest in e-Learning itself, before holding technical discussions.
The above-mentioned options should be put into practice in combination, according to
the specific circumstances and any pressing needs.
Finally, new issues are described for Japan to address as an AEN secretariat, in order topromote AEN activities and continuous evolution.
As described above, though it was the first year, many activities were conducted
including 6 pilot experiment projects and seminars in various countries. E-Learning
projects and seminars are also provided by some international organizations other than
AEN. Currently, the environment has not been established to obtain the huge amount ofrelative information and to take advantage of the effective usage of their outcomes.
In the future, in order for Japan to advance AEN activities in cooperation with eachcountry’s contact office, it is desirable to collect relative information, as well as to develop a"total mechanism" which supports effective and strategic utilization of AEN activities andtheir outcomes to create new activities and additional values. Requests regarding theseissues have already been submitted by AEN countries.
One of the important activities, which must be started as soon as possible to satisfy
these needs, may be the construction of "AEN portal" to complement the current AEN Web
site.
Major functions of the AEN portal are listed as follows:

Figure 7-3 Image of "AEN Portal"37• Portal function: AEN related events, member organization information, non-AEN
related events, etc.
• Database function: Specific information, specialist information, etc. on member
organizations• Function to provide contents: Contents, outcomes from AEN activities, independent
WBT contents provided by member organizations, contents provided by ALIC (forexample, standardization technology learning contents, learning contents for
implementation of e-Learning, etc.)• Matching function: Matching is supported for the cooperative development of courses
between providers and requesters of e-Learning.
Building a "portal site which serves also as database" with the above-mentionedfunctions, including search, register, and management, will provide quick access to therelated events, projects, and information on related organization and specialists. It will also
help greatly to enhance the capabilities of the member organizations by providing themwith high-quality contents, to create new activities, and to match the providers with therecipients.
Among numerous e-Learning related activities in Asia, AEN is a conspicuously
innovative international collaboration, being an establishment conducting promotion of
e-Learning standardization and development of many contents. In the future, in responding
to the needs from related organizations, continuous construction of prospective models are
required.
The need for e-Learning in Asia is increasing, and demands for AEN establishment are
growing. From now on, based on achievements and experiences obtained this year, it isnecessary to immediately work out future activity plans led by AEN Secretariat in Japan incooperation between Japan and its counterpart countries in Asia.

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